HOW A PICTURE IS ORNAMENTED IN BOOKS WITH TIN AND SAFFRON.
But if you have neither of these (gold, silver, brass, or copper), and
yet wish to decorate your work in some manner, take tin pure and finely
scraped, mill it and wash it like gold, and apply it with the same glue,
upon letters or other places which you wish to ornament with gold or
silver; and when you have polished it with a tooth, take saffron, with
which silk is coloured, moistening it with clear of egg without water,
and when it has stood a night, on the following day cover with a pencil
the places which you wish to gild, the rest holding the place of silver.
Then make fine traits round the letters and leaves, and flourishes from
minium, with a pen, also the stuffs of dresses and other ornaments.